Ayrshire Scotland Business News is provided by the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire. We publicise our members, and celebrate and report the wealth and rich diversity of entrepreneurial and business excellence that abounds here in Ayrshire, south-west Scotland. For further information e-mail Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

The Elite Ayrshire Business Circle

Monday, 18 March 2013

Scotland’s textile sector is aiming to capture a share of China’s £11 billion luxury sector market and grow the value of Scottish exports to China by 50 per cent over the next two years.

This news comes as Scottish Enterprise takes 16 ambitious textile companies to participate in the first ever Scottish Pavilion at CHIC in Beijing, the 21st China International Clothing and Accessories Fair, from 26 to 29 March.

The Scottish delegation includes some of Scotland’s most exciting fashion designers, including award winning Rebecca Torres, Hilary Grant and Iona Crawford as well as established textiles firms such as Johnstons of Elgin, Hawick Cashmere, Eribe, and Barrie, which was purchased by Chanel last year.

They will showcase Scotland’s excellence in luxury, design and innovation to more than 110,000 visitors from 20 countries worldwide.

The Scottish pavilion is being co-ordinated by Scottish Development International, Scottish Enterprise’s international arm.

Cathy Black, head of Scottish Enterprise’s textiles team, said: “China’s luxury market is seeing year-on-year growth of 35 per cent, and its fashion industry is set to become the world’s second largest by 2020.

“Over the next five years, 30 per cent of growth in the global fashion market is expected to come from China, so there is a massive opportunity for Scottish companies producing high end, design-led and luxury products that will appeal to the aspirational and style conscious Chinese consumer.

“From this event alone, we’re hoping to generate at least £1 million of new additional sales for the participating companies, and, given the size of the market, we think this could be the start of something very exciting for the industry.”

One of the participants, Johnstons of Elgin, is very optimistic about the visit and the opportunities it will bring to their business. The company is currently developing a new strategy for a sales and distribution network in China.

Ian Pryde, export sales director, says: “The emergence of China as one of the most important consumer markets in the developing world and the growth of a new genre of discerning luxury consumer is fuelling an increasing demand for our product.

“Currently, Johnstons of Elgin branded products are not available in the mainland Chinese market, but we’re working hard to rectify this, and we think the CHIC exhibition could act as the springboard to helping us achieve our ambitions in China.”

The trade mission includes a range of activities to maximise the companies’ exposure in China. This includes:

• A series of educational briefings from industry experts to highlight the market potential
• A tour of some of Beijing’s high end department stores and other retailers to educate companies about the retail market and what consumers are looking for
• Participation in a Scottish Fashion Seminar to profile the Scottish companies to influential Chinese buyers
• An international match-making session to introduce Scottish participants to Chinese buyers, retailers and distributors.

Cathy Black of Scottish Enterprise adds: “China doesn’t have the traditional routes to market that Scottish companies are used to, making it more difficult for individual companies to make an impact. By working with our colleagues in China, we have developed an industry approach using the Textiles Scotland brand so we can target influential people within the industry in China and showcase Scotland’s world-class reputation for quality, design and innovation.”

The companies will be hoping to learn from the experiences of Scottish companies such as Kinloch Anderson, which already has a retail presence in China as well as J&D Wilkie, who set up a factory in Jiaxing five years ago that transformed its business back in Scotland.

Bob Low, Managing Director of J&D Wilkie, says: “The speed in which we were able to scale up our business to volume production in China exceeded all of our expectations. We now have a yarn spinning and weaving unit operating six days round the clock. Much of the yarn production comes to Scotland for weaving and this has resulted in over 40% growth, in the last three years, in our sales from Scotland to Europe.

“China is a country of fascinating differences in culture, food and the rate of change compared to the UK. The domestic demand is still growing at a phenomenal rate and there remains a significant perceived value in Western goods. There is no substitute for experiencing this first hand, and any opportunity to do so should be seized."

Scottish Textiles is a vibrant and diverse sector which plays an important role in Scotland’s economy. Focussed around growth, collaboration and internationalisation, it achieves an annual turnover of £951 million and brings almost £300 million into the Scottish economy through exports. Home to over 600 companies it directly employs 9,100 people across the country.

A highly innovative sector, Scottish textiles has a world-wide reputation for its high quality, diversity and design excellence which consistently delivers high quality products on a global scale. Its heritage, which uses centuries refined skills, contributes to Scotland’s textile companies leading the way both at home and overseas.

THE EDITORThe Editor of Ayrshire Scotland Business News is Murdoch MacDonald, a graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge University, where his journalistic contemporaries included John Simpson, now World Affairs Editor with the BBC, and Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the Guardian. Murdoch MacDonald has been in the public relations industry and a freelance journalist and broadcaster for more than 35 years.He has handled the PR accounts of many top Scottish companies, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life, John Menzies, Kwik-Fit and Barratt Homes.

He has hosted his own family finance programmes - "£s, Pence and Sense" on Radio Forth and "Moneywise" on Scottish Television.He now runs Ayrshire’s top PR consultancy Fame Publicity Services.

Wherever you are in the world, no other public relations consultancy, PR firm or publicity company can offer you a better or more cost-effective worldwide news distribution service, combined with search engine optimisation techniques that will drive customers and qualified sales leads to your company's website.

Murdoch MacDonald is also managing director of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire.Telephone: 01292 281498E-mail: Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

Murdoch and his wife Lilian (pictured above) have written a book called "Phoenix in a Bottle", describing how they overcame alcoholism and are now, contrary to conventional wisdom, able to drink alcohol responsibly again. "Phoenix in a Bottle" is published by Melrose Books price £16.99 and is now available worldwide.Reviewing the book, eminent American addiction expert Dr Stanton Peele PhD commented:

“Phoenix in a Bottle is a modern version of The Days of Wine and Roses, and tells the true story of how two people who entered a period of desperate drinking stayed with one another in a close loving relationship, and emerged from their alcoholism able to drink responsibly again.

“Both a wonderful love story and a challenge to conventional wisdom about how people can recover from drinking problems, Phoenix in a Bottle gives people hope, and helps them to confront their own demons - alcohol or otherwise.”

And now "Phoenix in a Bottle" has been selected as a set text by a top American university.

“Phoenix in a Bottle” by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald will now be required reading for all doctoral students in a psychology programme at Alliant International University in San Diego, California.

Alliant International University, headquartered in San Diego and San Francisco, California, was formed in 2001 by the merger of the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) and the United States International University. Alliant has 6 campuses throughout California and also runs programmes in Mexico City, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant is one of the premier psychology schools in the US, and it counts roughly half the licensed clinical psychologists in California as its alumni.

Dr. Gary W. Lawson is Professor of Psychology at CSPP. He says: “I adopted Phoenix in a Bottle because the dilemma this couple struggled with and the questions they ask themselves are like so many others I have encountered in 35 years of clinical experience treating addictions.“However, nowhere in addiction literature have I seen these issues examined and explained as well as Lilian and Murdoch do in Phoenix in a Bottle.“I also recommend Phoenix in a Bottle to many of my patients as well.”

You can buy "Phoenix in a Bottle" by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald online now direct from Amazon UK (click on book cover image below).